Something i noticed with flashfire. - G4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So ive been told flashfire cant flash roms or in g4s cases non bootloader unlocked versions cant flash systems cause it loads in a minimal state.
Well what i noticed is. I made a total backup with flashfire. And i toted my 991. Once i got rooted and reinstalled flashfire i restored the backup and it worked. So flashfire seems to be capable of flashing a system backup restore. So if i made a rom system only and as long as none of my personal info is in it would one be able to restore said system backup as there own on another respectable 991 ofcoarse. I also noticed it restored my boot partitions recovery carrier and all. So am i onto something or. pissing in the wind

If the bootloader doesnt get the right signature from the rom/img/zip . it will cause bootloop

Related

[Q] Anyone else having Nandroid restore problems?

HTC One V [CDMA], Virgin Mobile US, original (pre-OTA) radio version, TWRP recovery
Has anyone else experienced flakiness with Nandroid backups on this phone? All of them that I've done with major OS changes—even after factory reset—have failed to produce a working restore even though they were taken from a working state.
I'm also unable to get back my previously-working CM 10.1 ROM even though I followed the exact same procedures (with the same files) that I used to get it working before.
This has been happening since my first failed Nandroid restore trying to go back from CM 10.1 to the HTC Sense Nandroid backup I made before attempting CM 10.1 in the first place. I thought this was due to the Sense Nandroid having been made under the OTA-upgraded radio version (I had to use the stock rom.zip from the RUU to get CM 10.1 working at all), but now I'm not so sure. I get the HTC logo and angry red legal text indefinitely now with those setups.
I can't even get back to the Nandroid I made of the stock HTC Sense ROM right after I restored from the RUU's rom.zip.
Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong? Or is this model really just that much of a pain?
Are you flashing the correct kernel in fastboot after completing the restore? The recovery is not able to flash a kernel, that still needs to be done through fastboot, even with a nandroid restore.
riggerman0421 said:
Are you flashing the correct kernel in fastboot after completing the restore? The recovery is not able to flash a kernel, that still needs to be done through fastboot, even with a nandroid restore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the boot.img, right? I did try flashing that after the restore didn't work the first time. No joy.
EDIT: Actually, that explains why some of my restores have failed, but not all of them.
EDIT 2: Mystery solved. I think. The Nandroid backup I took yesterday evening must be broken somehow. I noticed a few minutes ago that TWRP wasn't actually telling me that it finished restoring the backup—it was just taking me back to the home screen. I switched to CWM Recovery to grab a backup I took yesterday Morning, and that one worked.
So now I'm just left extremely disconcerted that I can't be certain my backups are reliable.
mynewshiny said:
That's the boot.img, right? I did try flashing that after the restore didn't work the first time. No joy.
EDIT: Actually, that explains why some of my restores have failed, but not all of them.
EDIT 2: Mystery solved. I think. The Nandroid backup I took yesterday evening must be broken somehow. I noticed a few minutes ago that TWRP wasn't actually telling me that it finished restoring the backup—it was just taking me back to the home screen. I switched to CWM Recovery to grab a backup I took yesterday Morning, and that one worked.
So now I'm just left extremely disconcerted that I can't be certain my backups are reliable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I originally thought this was just an isolated incident, but it seems to be recurring. Several of the Nandroid backups I've made more recently, both within TWRP Recovery and via the Online Nandroid Backup app, seem to produce this result. (Fortunately, I have a known good backup that I've been able to use reliably.)
Is there a way to validate a Nandroid backup other than trying to restore from it? I don't mean comparing a hash (which is what I find using Google), but rather making sure that the original, uncorrupted file is valid for use as a backup.
As a side note, every backup I've done with CWM Recovery has been reliable, so my fallback plan is to switch to CWM. I just find TWRP easier to navigate.
mynewshiny said:
I originally thought this was just an isolated incident, but it seems to be recurring. Several of the Nandroid backups I've made more recently, both within TWRP Recovery and via the Online Nandroid Backup app, seem to produce this result. (Fortunately, I have a known good backup that I've been able to use reliably.)
Is there a way to validate a Nandroid backup other than trying to restore from it? I don't mean comparing a hash (which is what I find using Google), but rather making sure that the original, uncorrupted file is valid for use as a backup.
As a side note, every backup I've done with CWM Recovery has been reliable, so my fallback plan is to switch to CWM. I just find TWRP easier to navigate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've played with recovery files before (se my signature) when cwm wasn't working well.
Basicly if you want to know that the backup is correct, you can only compare the hash codes (nandroid.md5) which is practically useless, because hases are made only for the .img files, so the OS itself is not protected like this, which is somehow ok, because the files are compressed to a .tar file, which also means it has it's own validation algorithms itself. So you can validate it if you can decompress the file (don't ask that how it could be done under windows) without errors, it should be allright.
I personnaly can say only this: use CWM 6. i-don't-know-which version (which is online now). There is a possibility for cache not mounting, and of course a backup to not be full, but as you can see from my signature, it can be "bypassed" so the OS will be backed up, and because we don't have S-OFF, it doesn't really matters. All of my backups from CWM is working (have at least 10 gigs at the time, from stock to EV).
I always use android file verifier by scary Allen (free market download). It has saved me many times!
Sent from my HTC One V using xda app-developers app
so as a conclusion, nandroid backup won't restore boot image? and the option in cwm advance restore>restore boot is useless? Me also always got stuck using nandroid restore
Ken-Shi_Kun said:
I've played with recovery files before (se my signature) when cwm wasn't working well.
Basicly if you want to know that the backup is correct, you can only compare the hash codes (nandroid.md5) which is practically useless, because hases are made only for the .img files, so the OS itself is not protected like this, which is somehow ok, because the files are compressed to a .tar file, which also means it has it's own validation algorithms itself. So you can validate it if you can decompress the file (don't ask that how it could be done under windows) without errors, it should be allright.
I personnaly can say only this: use CWM 6. i-don't-know-which version (which is online now). There is a possibility for cache not mounting, and of course a backup to not be full, but as you can see from my signature, it can be "bypassed" so the OS will be backed up, and because we don't have S-OFF, it doesn't really matters. All of my backups from CWM is working (have at least 10 gigs at the time, from stock to EV).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sellersj27 said:
I always use android file verifier by scary Allen (free market download). It has saved me many times!
Sent from my HTC One V using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confirmed that comparing file hashes isn't helpful for this purpose—I just downloaded scaryalienware's AFV as suggested and ran it against several of my Nandroid backups. It said all of them succeeded, including at least one of which I know will not restore successfully. However, of interest is the fact that it took about half as much time to scan the known "bad" one, and further analysis shows that it's about half the size of the others. I'll have to make some more backups via the various mechanisms to confirm that the size is an indicator; it may be simply that I had fewer apps installed when making those backups.
Too bad there isn't some kind of Nandroid Restore Simulator. But even if there was, this phone probably wouldn't have enough memory to use it. Checking Nandroid backups in a VM would be awesome though!

Messed up phone by backups! Much much better repost!

Okay let me start by saying that I have 3 backups of my entire phone made through TWRP. Yesterday I was configuring some flashable ZIPs to install a simple app like SMSgo through recovery. I then installed the ZIP. It was successful but the app was nowhere to be found so I decided to restore a backup. I restored the newest one, when I booted I ran into some problems, I was stuck in a loop of lock screen and boot animation. I then searched the web for solutions. On some forums somebody suggested to wipe internal storage and flash boot.emmc.win from my backup through fastboot. I did so and when I booted my phone was factory fresh and okay. But I didn't have my numbers and sms so I restored a backup... BAD idea. My phone was optimizing apps as I booted, it failed near the end, System UI has stopped it said and then threw me on setup screen without on screen buttons. I tried to restore every single backup I had, the same story with everyone, the best result I got was that it optimized all aps and then crashed system UI.
I went on web and searched for TWRP backups that fit my CID HTC__032 and restored. As I'm typing this I'm running factory fresh 4.4.4 from backup and only OTA I can download is 70mb fix. I didn't update yet cuz I dont have stock recovery.
I am currently not rooted as this downloaded backup wasn't but all backups I made myself are rooted. I have also unlocked bootloader and S-ON running TWRP.
What should i do now? I want to get to stock (preferably get one of my backups working) so I will be able to receive OTAs
The downloaded back is for HTC__032cid, 3.28.401.6 version as it was one of few which had working download links.
http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f485/htc-m8-collection-stock-backups-1882892/
Also worth mentioning that when I rooted before all this happened I had problems with crashing of TV app and I couldn't browse internal storage that I solved with:
adb shell
su
restorecon -FR /data/media/0
subcola said:
Okay let me start by saying that I have 3 backups of my entire phone made through TWRP. Yesterday I was configuring some flashable ZIPs to install a simple app like SMSgo through recovery. I then installed the ZIP. It was successful but the app was nowhere to be found so I decided to restore a backup. I restored the newest one, when I booted I ran into some problems, I was stuck in a loop of lock screen and boot animation. I then searched the web for solutions. On some forums somebody suggested to wipe internal storage and flash boot.emmc.win from my backup through fastboot. I did so and when I booted my phone was factory fresh and okay. But I didn't have my numbers and sms so I restored a backup... BAD idea. My phone was optimizing apps as I booted, it failed near the end, System UI has stopped it said and then threw me on setup screen without on screen buttons. I tried to restore every single backup I had, the same story with everyone, the best result I got was that it optimized all aps and then crashed system UI.
I went on web and searched for TWRP backups that fit my CID HTC__032 and restored. As I'm typing this I'm running factory fresh 4.4.4 from backup and only OTA I can download is 70mb fix. I didn't update yet cuz I dont have stock recovery.
I am currently not rooted as this downloaded backup wasn't but all backups I made myself are rooted. I have also unlocked bootloader and S-ON running TWRP.
What should i do now? I want to get to stock (preferably get one of my backups working) so I will be able to receive OTAs
The downloaded back is for HTC__032cid, 3.28.401.6 version as it was one of few which had working download links.
http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f485/htc-m8-collection-stock-backups-1882892/
Also worth mentioning that when I rooted before all this happened I had problems with crashing of TV app and I couldn't browse internal storage that I solved with:
adb shell
su
restorecon -FR /data/media/0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a stock recovery download.
Here's a stock rooted backup. I'm not sure if that's really what you are looking for though.
You could also try running the 4.16.401.10 RUU to update. That would clean up your phone so that you can start with a fresh slate. The RUU download is here.
After the RUU, you should be able to restore your nandroids. Probably after the OTAs as well.
As I'm typing this I have successfully flashed stock recovery and made an OTA update with my phone from 3.28.401.6 on 4.16.401.10, what concerns me is that I cannot access internal storage and TV app is crashing.
Same problem as my previous post:
Also worth mentioning that when I rooted before all this happened I had problems with crashing of TV app and I couldn't browse internal storage that I solved with:
adb shell
su
restorecon -FR /data/media/0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also I can't turn on WIFI after OTA so I'll try to run that RUU and report if the problem fixes itself. I don't really want to mess with root unless I have to.
EDIT: RUU fails with error code 155: UNKNOWN ERROR, shall I just do what used to work before? or you have other ideas?
Edit2: Did a factory reset and all problems are gone. Just obe more thing, the mobile signal seems weak, is it possible that my radio got messed up? Can I restore radio from one of my backups ?

Failed Boot after Flashing SuperSU

I finally got around to rooting my 5x this last weekend. I flashed the latest version of the SuperSU update zip. After flashing I used the SafetyNet Helper to check if my phone successfully jumps through all of Google's hoops. I failed the test, so I went back to recovery and restored my boot partition from my nandroid backup, which I created immediately after flashing and booting to TWRP. When I tried rebooting system I got a message my software was corrupt and phone got stuck on boot screen (Google logo with annoying padlock to indicate bootloader is unlocked). Went back to TWRP and tried restoring both boot and system but it was still getting stuck on the boot screen. So I downloaded the factory images, flashed everything but userdata, and phone was working again.
After some digging I found that I failed to read the fine print for the newer versions of SuperSU, stating that if you want the systemless install you have to write a couple of settings to a file in /data that the installer checks. Did this and root worked and passed the SafetyNet checks and I was happy. Then I installed AdAway and flashed systemless hosts and I'm even happier. But I'm still wondering why it was saying my software was corrupted, even after I restored my nandroid backup. Any ideas?
jgummeson said:
I finally got around to rooting my 5x this last weekend. I flashed the latest version of the SuperSU update zip. After flashing I used the SafetyNet Helper to check if my phone successfully jumps through all of Google's hoops. I failed the test, so I went back to recovery and restored my boot partition from my nandroid backup, which I created immediately after flashing and booting to TWRP. When I tried rebooting system I got a message my software was corrupt and phone got stuck on boot screen (Google logo with annoying padlock to indicate bootloader is unlocked). Went back to TWRP and tried restoring both boot and system but it was still getting stuck on the boot screen. So I downloaded the factory images, flashed everything but userdata, and phone was working again.
After some digging I found that I failed to read the fine print for the newer versions of SuperSU, stating that if you want the systemless install you have to write a couple of settings to a file in /data that the installer checks. Did this and root worked and passed the SafetyNet checks and I was happy. Then I installed AdAway and flashed systemless hosts and I'm even happier. But I'm still wondering why it was saying my software was corrupted, even after I restored my nandroid backup. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In general, phones get messed up after flashing backups or changing through multiple ROMs. The backups like nandroid backup are primarily meant for immediate resolution and a full fresh install is always recommended for any device (be it a desktop, laptop or any mobile device). Its always better to find the best suited ROM as per your needs and stick with it rather than messing up by flashing different zips through TWRP. Cheers :good:
ultraquantum said:
In general, phones get messed up after flashing backups or changing through multiple ROMs. The backups like nandroid backup are primarily meant for immediate resolution and a full fresh install is always recommended for any device (be it a desktop, laptop or any mobile device). Its always better to find the best suited ROM as per your needs and stick with it rather than messing up by flashing different zips through TWRP. Cheers :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right. Nandroid can quickly get you out of the most common sticky situations by restoring the most commonly messed with partitions (system, boot, data). There are a bunch of other partitions that can mess things up. The only things flashed though were TWRP and SuperSU (non-systemless by mistake). I'm just trying to understand what might've gone wrong. Something outside of system/boot must have been modified and broke the boot, only after restoring the boot partition. Think I figured it out though - I looked at the update script for SuperSU and it looks like it could be messing with the vendor partition (at least for non-systemless installs). When I flashed back the stock boot image a change in the vendor partition must have tripped dm-verity, which the SuperSU installer had disabled when it updated the boot image.

HTC one M8 won't turn on, Chinese version

I own an HTC one m8 chinese version. I tried to root the phone. I unlocked bootloader, installed TWRP, and Installed supersu.zip from TWRP. the phone turned on.But the superSU was not working because of binary update issue. I google the reason, found out that I have to install newer supersu.So I did. but the phone never truned on again. it shows the chinese logo,but after that goes into a black screen and stays there
I can Reset the phone, the same thing happens. I can go to boolloader and Factory reset, but the result is the same.
Please help me.
The only thing that "factory reset" does is wipe user data (and cache, Dalvik). It can't magically restore the changes you made to OS.
Did you make a TWRP backup of the OS (system partition) before trying to root? Since you should always make a TWRP backup before attempting mods like root. That way, you could have just restored your backup, and rooted with the correct version SuperSU (or alternately Magisk).
Old version SuperSU and also old version TWRP, are the most common reasons for failed root attempts. Make sure you use the proper version of both.
redpoint73 said:
The only thing that "factory reset" does is wipe user data (and cache, Dalvik). It can't magically restore the changes you made to OS.
Did you make a TWRP backup of the OS (system partition) before trying to root? Since you should always make a TWRP backup before attempting mods like root. That way, you could have just restored your backup, and rooted with the correct version SuperSU (or alternately Magisk).
Old version SuperSU and also old version TWRP, are the most common reasons for failed root attempts. Make sure you use the proper version of both.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi , Thank you for the reply, I did not make a backup before, I just wanted to install google applications like google play services, play store and ... on the phone, because it did not have them. That's why i rooted my phone. is there anyway to restore it without the backup files? Thanks for the help.
arash13131313 said:
Hi , Thank you for the reply, I did not make a backup before, I just wanted to install google applications like google play services, play store and ... on the phone, because it did not have them. That's why i rooted my phone. is there anyway to restore it without the backup files? Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would need to know more info about the phone, before attempting to answer that question with any degree of specificity.
Namely, do fastboot getvar all, and post the results (delete IMEI serial number before posting).
But put it this way: you made changes to the system partition that are now causing it to not boot. You didn't make a backup of that partition. In order to "restore" you need the original condition partition (you can't restore from nothing). You either need official RUU (which I don't know exists for Chinese version) or a TWRP backup that someone else made. Not sure if the Chinese version has stock backups posted. But you can take a look: https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/tutorial-how-to-stock-stock-twrp-t3086860

Restore a TWRP backup with A/B system slots!

CHANGED: You must flash the dm-verity.zip on ROM install to use the backup/restore feature of TWRP. It won't work if /data is encrypted. I jumped the gun when making this thread.
EDIT2: I had also flashed dm-verity on install so /data wasn't encrypted.
Which Dm Verity did you use which version??
Does this mean even today with the latest versions of twrp and magisk you cant restore the backups made of an encrypted phone? I just got a new Moto G7 Power and got it setup with those two things and made a backup - havnt tried restoring yet. Does your solution of flashing the dm-verify.zip thing mean the phone will be unencryped then? Because I cant have that, I rather not have backups. What about the old "adb backup" type command line does that still work?
I've had my phone since the day they were available at metro and I can't and don't even try to backup or restore anything anymore. On roms it always has broken lockscreen where you cannot secure phone. Because of this I stay encrypted and setup my **** all over again when I change roms.
flash713 said:
I've had my phone since the day they were available at metro and I can't and don't even try to backup or restore anything anymore. On roms it always has broken lockscreen where you cannot secure phone. Because of this I stay encrypted and setup my **** all over again when I change roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, too bad it's a nice function to backup/restore I guess I'll just backup my important data individually and try not to mess up my Rom.
TaZeR369 said:
I see, too bad it's a nice function to backup/restore I guess I'll just backup my important data individually and try not to mess up my Rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check this out. I haven't used it yet but I'm about to try it. Join «Migrate - Custom ROM Migration Tool» on Telegram: https://t.me/migrateApp
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-migrate-custom-rom-migration-tool-t3862763
There's a new add-on for it on telegram link
TaZeR369 said:
I see, too bad it's a nice function to backup/restore I guess I'll just backup my important data individually and try not to mess up my Rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too. I haven't a bit of luck with encrypted stock restores. I was told it would work if you don't restore /data, but when I made a backup without /data, it failed to restore. I HAVE been able to restore unencrypted customs though. I only backed up system, data, and boot when I succeeded. It's been a while. I think you have to wait a long time for the 1st boot after the restore, as if it were rebuilding ART or something. Haven't had any luck stopping stock from encrypting either. I hate not messing up my ROM. Boring.....
Perhaps I am missing a critical detail, but I just successfully restored my latest LOS(lineage-17.1-20200524-UNOFFICIAL-ocean) & older CRD(crDroidAndroid-10.0-20200405-ocean-v6.4) backups(*) using TWRP(twrp-installer-3.3.1-2-ocean).
SELinux is NOT enforced, but "Trust"(lulz) claims the phone is encrypted.
My methodology requires installing the same base f/w I used when originally installing the ROM(former newest RETAIL for CRD & newest RETUS for LOS), root, flash copy partitions zip, flash>factory reset>1st boot of the original ROM zip, enable debug, install TWRP, boot into TWRP, wipe all & restore backup(*).
I just restored successfully 2x's on my xt1955-5.
I loaded LOS 10 & 3rds from scratch, made all my settings tweaks & made Titanium b/u(JIC), made TWRP b/u(*) then restored my previous CRD daily install using steps above. Then I repeated the above steps(again) to go back to my new, fresh LOS. It is annoying to have to reload f/w, et al, but def easier than reloading & retweaking the OS & all 3rds from scratch... Titanium fails to restore most settings + other nits.
To restore a backup(*) of a ROM I am currently running, I just boot to TWRP, wipe all & restore.
*: To make the original TWRP backup, I will run it & it will fail. I open the log file and find the last file/folder that "error"ed, delete the offender & re-run backup(boot, data & system). It works for me, no DM-verity flash required.
As always, YMMV.
Edit: PS: The problems seem to be stemming from beta testing the new "Trust"(lulz) framework, on all 10 ROMs(?). Would be nice to get that ironed out. A new Recovery wouldn't hurt, either. AFAIK, these problems exist in OFR, too.
googleverifysux said:
Perhaps I am missing a critical detail, but I just successfully restored my latest LOS(lineage-17.1-20200524-UNOFFICIAL-ocean) & older CRD(crDroidAndroid-10.0-20200405-ocean-v6.4) backups(*) using TWRP(twrp-installer-3.3.1-2-ocean).
SELinux is NOT enforced, but "Trust"(lulz) claims the phone is encrypted.
My methodology requires installing the same base f/w I used when originally installing the ROM(former newest RETAIL for CRD & newest RETUS for LOS), root, flash copy partitions zip, flash>factory reset>1st boot of the original ROM zip, enable debug, install TWRP, boot into TWRP, wipe all & restore backup(*).
I just restored successfully 2x's on my xt1955-5.
I loaded LOS 10 & 3rds from scratch, made all my settings tweaks & made Titanium b/u(JIC), made TWRP b/u(*) then restored my previous CRD daily install using steps above. Then I repeated the above steps(again) to go back to my new, fresh LOS. It is annoying to have to reload f/w, et al, but def easier than reloading & retweaking the OS & all 3rds from scratch... Titanium fails to restore most settings + other nits.
To restore a backup(*) of a ROM I am currently running, I just boot to TWRP, wipe all & restore.
*: To make the original TWRP backup, I will run it & it will fail. I open the log file and find the last file/folder that "error"ed, delete the offender & re-run backup(boot, data & system). It works for me, no DM-verity flash required.
As always, YMMV.
Edit: PS: The problems seem to be stemming from beta testing the new "Trust"(lulz) framework, on all 10 ROMs(?). Would be nice to get that ironed out. A new Recovery wouldn't hurt, either. AFAIK, these problems exist in OFR, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have u tried the new 3.5 twrp
Lol...and here it is a couple years later and I'm still searching whether a force-encrypted twrp backup of stock has been figured out how to restore...Pulled up my own thread. Lol.
i miss being able to backup android properly. it made me behave completely differently with my phone. it was a toy instead of just some tool. i'd just install every single rom, kernel modem operating system i could find or i'd just plagiarize the hell out of you guys for sh*ts and giggles and man i loved android so much back then but now its my cell phone. :\ i just liked the colorful language, i wasn't signing anybody else's code.
it's such a tedious thing now, even compared to before and i suppose that's their intention perhaps.

Categories

Resources